Your happiness is equal to any one person’s happiness. Your happiness is equal to two other people’s happiness. Your happiness is equal to the world’s happiness.

1:1

This means that no person or group of people has any claim over your happiness and you have no claim over anyone else’s happiness.

Even-Steven.

The problem is there are people in life who reject this simple truth. These people believe that your happiness is up for grabs. They try to take your happiness and make it their own.

They use words like “obligation” and “duty” with the sole purpose of having you give up some of your happiness to them.

They want five happiness units from you in exchange for nothing but their approval. Or they want ten happiness units from you in exchange for a false sense of honor and charity that only they can bestow upon you.

Many people will go through extreme lengths to execute this kind of holier than thou strategy against you.

They will ask you to sacrifice, give, and contribute–not for your happiness, but for the happiness of others.

Never feel obligated to make other people happy.

Make others happy because you want to make them happy. Make others happy because it’s your right and privilege, not because you feel guilty.

Instead, they just keep checking their emails, running errands, and going to meetings. They fool themselves into thinking that staying busy is the same as working hard. It’s not.

Round and round they go. Not thinking. Not leading. Just following.

Busyness is laziness.

The busier you are, the lazier you are. Busyness is not only a sign of laziness, it’s a sign of weakness. Busy people are too weak to plan ahead. They’re too weak to prioritize. They’re too weak to scale.

But I don’t have time to think! I don’t have time to listen! I don’t have time to learn anything new!

Boo hoo.

You have the same amount of time in a day as everyone who has ever lived.

Start using your time for the things that really matter.

At the end of your life you’re going to have to give an account to yourself for what you’ve achieved and what you’ve failed to achieve. There won’t be anyone else on your deathbed to blame but yourself.

Take responsibility for your life now. Don’t wait until the end of your life to do it.